The world’s most prestigious endurance race is back, as drivers will tackle 24 hours of Circuit de la Sarthe for the next round of the WEC campaign.
Ferrari arrives as the defending winner having claimed its first Le Mans victory since 1964 at the centenary edition of the race, which later won the 2023 Autosport Moment of the Year Award.
So, will the Italian manufacturer repeat that success in 2024? Here is how and when to watch this year’s action.
When is the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours?
Date: Saturday 15 June - Sunday 16 June
Start time: 3pm BST/4pm local time
The 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours begins on Saturday 15 June at 3pm in the United Kingdom and 4pm local time. However, the race follows a full week of preparation as the Le Mans extravaganza starts on Friday 7 June with the first of two scrutineering sessions, which take place in Place de la République - the city’s main square.
The city centre procession is also staged on the same weekend as scrutineering, where thousands of fans gather to watch the drivers parade their cars through downtown Le Mans on a 1.3-mile loop. Then during the following week are four practice sessions, qualifying and hyperpole to set up the main event.
2024 Le Mans 24 Hours schedule
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Date
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Session
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Session time
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Friday 7 June
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Scrutineering day one
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9am BST/10am local time
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Saturday 8 June
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Scrutineering day two
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9am BST/10am local time
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Saturday 8 June
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City centre procession
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2:30pm BST/3:30pm local time
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Wednesday 12 June
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Free Practice 1
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1pm BST/2pm local time
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Wednesday 12 June
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Qualifying
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6pm BST/7pm local time
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Wednesday 12 June
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Free Practice 2
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9pm BST/10pm local time
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Thursday 13 June
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Free Practice 3
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2pm BST/3pm local time
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Thursday 13 June
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Hyperpole
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7pm BST/8pm local time
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Thursday 13 June
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Free Practice 4
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9pm BST/10pm local time
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Saturday 15 June
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Race warm-up
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11am BST/12pm local time
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Saturday 15 June
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Race start
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3pm BST/4pm local time
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Sunday 16 June
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Race ends
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3pm BST/4pm local time
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How to watch the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours
Eurosport holds the WEC broadcasting rights for the UK, continental Europe and Australia, meaning it is the place to watch this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. That does mean a subscription is needed though and it can be purchased through TNT Sports, who are also owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
New customers can purchase a package for £20 per month that includes all four TNT sport channels, Eurosport 1 and 2, as well as live streaming platform Discovery+. So, Le Mans can also be watched via a mobile or tablet device, as well as a console.
Fans can also watch the Le Mans 24 Hours via a race-specific package from WEC TV. For £15.31, it gives fans the chance to livestream every track session, view a live leaderboard and real-time telemetry and relive old Le Mans races.
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Date
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Session
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Channel
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Coverage from
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Wednesday 12 June
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Free practice 1
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Eurosport 2
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12:45pm BST/1:45pm local time
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Wednesday 12 June
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Qualifying
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Eurosport 2
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5:45pm BST/6:45pm local time
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Wednesday 12 June
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Free practice 2
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Eurosport 2
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8:45pm BST/9:45pm local time
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Thursday 13 June
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Free practice 3
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Eurosport 2
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1:45pm BST/2:45pm local time
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Thursday 13 June
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Hyperpole
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Eurosport 2
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6:45pm BST/7:45pm local time
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Thursday 13 June
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Free practice 4
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Eurosport 2
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8:45pm BST/9:45pm local time
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Saturday 15 June
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Race warm-up
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Eurosport 1
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10:45am BST/11:45am local time
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Saturday 15 June
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Le Mans 24 Hours
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Eurosport 1
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2pm BST/3pm local time
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Non-European viewers can watch the Le Mans 24 Hours via their local sports broadcasting platform whether it is Max or MotorTrend TV in the United States, SuperSport for those in Sub-Saharan African or WEC TV which is available worldwide.
Where to watch highlights of the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours
Highlights of the Le Mans 24 Hours can be watched via the official WEC or Eurosport platforms including social media and their respective websites. They tend to upload highlights soon after each session is done, while the official WEC YouTube channel also published a full race replay three weeks after the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours had finished.
How does the Le Mans 24 Hours work?
Le Mans is WEC’s blue-riband event and forms part of the illustrious motorsport triple crown, which is awarded to a driver who wins the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans in their career.
In 2024, the Le Mans grid will be split into three categories - hypercar, LMP2 and LMGT3 - where teams must rotate their car between three drivers with no driver being behind the wheel for more than 14 hours in total.
Although the festivities begin the weekend prior to the race, drivers do not officially take to the 8.467-mile track until the Wednesday before with two practice sessions and day one of qualifying. Qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours is split into two parts, where the first session lasts for 12 minutes and entails all cars attempting to set their best lap around the circuit.
The eight fastest cars from the different categories then progress to hyperpole the following day. Hyperpole lasts for 30 minutes in total, 10 minutes for each class, and determines the pole position winners plus the rest of the top eight starting positions.
A fourth and final practice session follows this before the main event which, since 1970, has not used its traditional starting ritual where drivers ran to their cars to begin the race. Instead, while drivers still start out lined up against the pit wall, a safety car leads them for a formation lap before a rolling start commences the 24-hour affair.
How many laps are there in the Le Mans 24 Hours?
There is no set amount of laps at the Le Mans 24 Hours given it is a race against the clock, but the winner’s final total has been in the 380s for four of the last six editions. This is still some way off the record though, which stands at 397 laps set in 1971 (Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep in a Porsche 917KH Coupe) and 2010 (Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller in an Audi R15 TDI).
But Ferrari won the 2023 race after completing just 342 laps - the lowest since 2001 - due to a series of stoppages and poor weather.
Who are favourites for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours?
Although the #51 Ferrari car - driven by Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi - is the reigning Le Mans winner, 2024 has not been so kind as the trio sit ninth in the championship with fourth in Spa-Francorchamps being their best result.
They should have won in Imola though, the season’s second round, as #51 was leading a Ferrari 1-2 after four of six hours but the team was too late in pitting its cars for wet tyres.
That dropped Ferrari out of contention and handed victory to the #7 Toyota - driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries - which is one of three entrants to have won this year.
The Porsche Penske of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor, and the Team Jota Porsche of Callum Ilott and Will Stevens both have one win apiece, as well. But it is the former who holds the championship lead, as its run of only top two finishes places the #6 Penske 22 points above the Jota Porsche, which came outside of the points in Imola after second in Qatar.
So, one could argue that it is likely a Porsche will win this year’s Le Mans, which would be the German manufacturer’s first victory there since 2017. But one cannot discount the reigning WEC champions Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, despite the Toyota trio lying eighth in the 2024 standings with fifth in Imola being their best result so far.
Anything can happen during the gruelling event, so it is often hard to predict who will emerge victorious - especially when Le Mans was the only round that Toyota did not win in 2023.
And it is one that could completely change the championship picture, as Le Mans offers the most points - 50 for the winner - of any WEC race.
Elsewhere, a Porsche is also leading the LMGT3 standings where Klaus Bachler, Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm hold almost double the points tally of those behind.
The Manthey Racing trio have 72 points meaning they are already 35 ahead of Team WRT (Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung) and Heart of Racing (Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas) in joint-second.
This comes as a result of the #92 Porsche scoring a podium in each round so far, including victory in the Qatar season opener, while those in second failed to claim any points at Spa. So, another strong showing in Le Mans, the season’s halfway-point, could go a long way in helping Bachler, Malykhin and Sturm to clinch the LMGT3 title.
It is the first time that WEC has used a two-class structure, as the long-standing LMP2 was dropped for 2024 due to growing demand in the rejuvenated top category which saw the likes of Lamborghini, BMW and Alpine arrive for this year.
However, LMP2 is returning as a one-off for Le Mans where it has 16 grid slots with all drivers using an Oreca 07-Gibson.
